“[The draft] leaves the issue up to state governments, saying it rejects the Supreme Court’s decision last year holding that same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional: “We urge (the decision’s) reversal whether through judicial reconsideration or a constitutional amendment returning control over marriage to the states.”

The draft did add language on so-called “religious freedom” laws, which seek to protect businesses who deny services based on religious objections to gay marriage. The laws have become controversial at the state level across the country. The platform language supports the “First Amendment Defense Act” proposed in Congress.

— CNN, reporting on a draft of the new Republican national platform, reveals that the GOP still wants states to outlaw LGBT relationships and families while adding on new types of legalized discrimination with “religious freedom laws” like the”First Amendment Defense Act”, a law which is very similar to Mississippi’s law allowing people to refuse service to LGBT people based on sincerely held religious beliefs. Mississippi’s law is so odious that a federal judge blocked it from going into effect, saying it “violates… the promise of equal protection of the laws” under the U.S. Constitution.

While CNN initially notes that the GOP platform draft has dropped the call for a U.S. Constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage (a item that has been in every GOP platform since 2004), the call for the amendment remains. The Republican National Convention will take place next week on July 18 to 21.

During the convention, a coalition of LGBT-organizations called Fairness USA will air the commercial below (starring real-life North Carolina trans woman Alaina Kupec) to highlight the unfairness and danger of anti-trans bathroom bills, like North Carolina’s HB2. It could be helpful, especially considering that Americans see ghosts more often than they see trans people.

The Democratic National Platform is a more affirming of LGBT people, but stops short of prescribing concrete steps for their equal treatment under the law.